EuTAW  Springs 


99 


onel  Williams  will  g'ive  your  Instructions  on  that  head 
and  whence  I  wish  you  to  take  post;  as  I  feel  myself 
under  many  Oblig-ations  to  you  for  your  Exertions,  to 
promote  the  Service  and  particularly  for  your  g'allant 
Conduct  in  the  Action  at  Eutaws  [is  i]  Shall  Still  con- 
sider myself  under  additional  Oblig-ations,  if  you'll  Ex- 
ert yourself  in  providing  for  &  accomodateing,  the  poor 
unfortinate  wound'd.  Thier  Distress  for  want  of  Sup- 
plies wound  my  Humanity,  our  Victory  was  Complete, 
and  nothing  but  the  House  Saved  the  whole  Army  from 
falling  into  Our  Hands.  The  Enemy  however  fled  to 
Charlestown,  at  Eutaws  they  [Stored]  thier  Liquors  and 
left  upwards  of  a  Thousand  Stand  of  Arms,  and  many 
other  Military  Stores.  When  our  Prisoners  are  all  Col- 
lected of  the  well  &  wound'd  they  will  Amount  to  be- 
tween four  &  five  Hundred,  and  I  think  Thier  Kill'd 
and  wound'd  will  be  between  live  and  Six  Hundred;  per- 
haps more  their  loss — Our  Loss  is  Considerable  as  the 
Action  was  long  &  Obstinate 

With  Esteem  &  regards, 
I  am  D'r  Sir  your  most  Obed't  Humble  Serv't 


to  colonel  Malmedy. 


AN   AUTUMN    LEAF. 

Torn  from  th}-  stem  poor,  withered  leaf 
Where  goest  thou? 

'I  nothing-  know,  the  storm  swept  oak 
Where  once  I  clung-  at  last  is  broke. 
Tossed  on  the  breath  of  restless  g'ale 
From  wood  to  plain,  from  mount  to  vale, 
I  g-o  where  blows  th'    inconstant  wind 
Nor  sig-h,  nor  find  my  fate  unkind. 
I  g-o  where  all  thing's  fair  must  come, 
Where  thou,  in  turn,  must  find  a  home. 
There  lies  the  rose  when  life  is  done 
There  fall  the  laurels  one  by  one." 

— From  the  French  of  At'nault. 


GENERAL    INTEREST 


THE  TWO  CALDWELL  MONUMENTS  ON  THE  CAMPUS 
OF  THE  UNIVEFSSiTY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 

DR.  Joseph  Caldwell  came  to  Chapel  Hill  on  October 
31st,  1796,  from  a  Tutorship  at  Princeton  Univer- 
sity, then  and  until  recently,  the  "College  of  New  Jer- 
sey." He  entered  upon  his  duties  as  Professor  of  Math- 
ematics after  only  one  day's  rest,  and  in  a  few  months 
the  institution  was  placed  under  his  charge  as  Presiding- 
Professor.  His  health  beginning  to  fail  after  two  years, 
the  Trustees,  in  order  to  prevent  his  departure  gave  the 
principalship  to  Rev.  James  S.  Gillaspie,  but  after  a 
rather  stormy  administration  he  resigned  the  place  and 
Mr.  Caldwell  was  induced  to  take  charge  a  second  time. 
In  1804  the  Trustees  elected  him  to  the  Presidency  and 
he  continued  in  this  office  until  1813.  Being  fond  of  the 
study  and  teaching  of  Mathematics,  and  wishing  to  com- 
plete his  treatise  on  Geometry,  he  applied  to  the  Trustees 
to  choose  a  new  President,  recommending  Rev.  Robert 
Hett  Chapman,  D.  D.,  of  New  York.  His  counsel  was 
heeded  but,  after  four  years  unpleasant  experience,  main- 
ly on  account  of  the  heated  political  feeling  engendered 
by  the  war  with  England,  Dr.  Chapman  gave  up  his 
post  and  early  in  January,  1817,  Dr.  Caldwell  again 
became  President,  very  reluctantly,  but  as  a  matter  of 
duty  to  the  University  he  loved  so  well.  He  had  already 
resisted  the  blandishments  of  a  larger  salary  and  the 
chief  place  in  a  richer  college  of  another  state. 

After  a  few  years  the  University  came  into  possession 


102  The  University  Magazine 

of  considerable  funds  from  the  sale  of  Tennessee  lands, 
and  became  more  prosperous.  Hig-h  water  mark  was 
reached  in  1823,  the  number  being-  173,  which,  consider- 
ing- the  sparse  population  and  difficulty  of  travelling-  in 
those  da\"s,  was  conclusive  proof  of  the  public  confidence. 
The  Trustees,  on  this  account,  and  in  expectation  of  con- 
tinued receipts  from  the  sale  of  their  lands,  sent  Dr. 
Caldwell  to  Europe,  at  his  ovvm  sug-g-estion,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  books  and  apparatus  for  instruction,  and  beg-an 
the  construction  of  a  new  chapel,  the  Old  West  Building- 
and  a  third  story  to  the  Old  East.  The  Faculty  also 
was  enlarg-ed. 

It  was  not  long-  before  a  financial  crisis  came  and 
blasted  this  prosperit}'.  The  number  of  students  dimin- 
ished, the  sales  of  land  ceased  and  the  g-olden  stream  from 
Tennessee  dried  up.  The  Trustees  were  no  wiser  than 
other  men.  They  shrunk  from  discarding-  professors  and 
discontinuing-  their  building-,  and  soon  they  owed  a  debt 
of  forty  thousand  dollars. 

Anxiety  about  this  financial  trouble  was  not  the  only 
affliction  of  the  g-ood  President.  He  was  attacked  by  a 
g-rievous  internal  malady,  which  became  a  constant  and 
chronic  torture.  He  journeyed  to  Philadelphia,  whose 
phj'sicians  then  stood  at  the  head  of  their  profession  in 
America,  but  they  thoug-ht  his  disease  be3'ond  the  reach 
of  surg-ery.  Bravely  and  uncomplaining-ly  he  per- 
formed his  duties,  never  asking  for  aid.  Even  when  the' 
Trustees  elected  Professor,  afterwards  Judge,  Walker 
Anderson,  to  perform  his  duties,  he  insisted  on  taking 
on  himself  half  the  work.  He  sunk  to  his  rest  on 
the  27th  of  January,  1835.  He  was  buried  in  the  middle 
of  the  lot  now  called  the  Village  Cemetery,  which  had 


The  Caldwell  Monuments  103 

been  laid  off  on  University  land  and  enclosed  by  a  stone 
wall  under  his  direction.  His  gfrave  had  been  walled  i  n 
b}'   his  own  orders. 

President  Caldwell  attained  a  very  high  place  in  the 
public  reg-ard.  In  1804,  simultaneously  with  his  election 
as  President,  the  General  Assembly  appointed  him  a 
Trustee  of  the  University.  He  was  the  astronomical  ex- 
pert to  run  the  western  part  of  the  boundary  line  between 
the  Carolinas.  He  had  published  admirable  letters  over 
the  pen  name  of  Carlton,  advocating  a  railroad  from 
our  Western  boundary  to  Beaufort.  Pie  had  ably  cham- 
pioned popular  education.  The  name  of  the  county  of 
Caldwell  given  six  years  after  his  death  shows  the  esti- 
mation of  the  legislature,  the  representatives  of  the 
people.  The  following  resolutions  of  the  Trustees, 
whom  he  served,  have  the  merit  of  truth  without  exag- 
geration. 

"Raleigh,  6th  of  February,  1835. 

On  motion  of  Governor  Swain. 

Whereas  the  Executive  Committee  with  the  deepest 
emotions  of  sorrow  have  received  intelligence  of  the 
death  of  Rev'd.  Joseph  Caldwell,  D.  D.,  President  of  the 
University, 

Resolved  unanimously,  that  by  the  eminent  purity  of 
his  life,  his  patriotism  and  zeal  in  the  cause  of  learning, 
and  his  long,  faithful  and  distinguished  public  service 
at  the  head  of  the  University,  Doctor  Caldwell  has  ap- 
proved himself  one  of  the  noblest  benefactors  of  the 
State  and  deserves  the  lasting  gratitude  and  reverence  of 
his  countrymen. 

Professor  Anderson  was  then  requested  to  prepare  a 
memoir  of  the  life  and  character  of  the  deceased  Presi- 


104  The  University  Magazine 

dent,  to  be  be  delivered  at  the  following- Commencement. 
This  was  excellently  done  and  was  printed  in  pamphlet. 

Judg-e  Frederick  Nash  and  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  McPhcctcrs 
were  appointed  to  erect  an  appropriate  monument  "in 
the  burial  g-round  near  the  University. "  The  authorities 
afterwards  concluded  to  place  it  in  the  Campus,  and  the 
site  chosen  was  thought  to  be  sufficiently'  remote  from  any 
building-  then  standing  or  likely  to  be  erected.  Its  in- 
convenient proximity  to  the  New  AVest  Building-  shows 
how  mistaken  as  to  the  progress  of  the  University  were 
the  locators. 

The  body  of  Dr  Caldwell  has  been  exhumed  twice.  A 
day  or  two  after  his  death,  at  the  instance  of  the  Philan- 
thropic Society,  it  was  taken  up  by  Mr.  A¥aug-h  of  Ral- 
eig-h  in  order  to  procure  a  plaster  cast  of  his  features. 
The  bust  is  now  in  Gerrard  Hall  and  is  a  faithful  repro- 
duction. The  g-rave  was  reopened  on  October  31st  1846 
and  the  remains  were  reinterred  by  the  side  of  his  wife 
at  the  base  of  the  monument. 

His  wife  died  October  30th,  1846,  while  on  a  visit  to 
Chapel  Hill.  Her  maiden  name  was  Helen  Hogg-,  she 
being  a  daughter  of  James  Hogg-,  a  prominent  merchant 
of  Hillsboro,  who  was  one  of  the  Commissioners  that 
chose  the  site  for  the  University.  Her  first  husband  was 
William  Hooper,  son  of  the  Signer  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  of  the  same  name.  He  died  early  leaving- 
two  sons,  William  and  Thomas  Clark,  and  when  the 
elder  was  prepared  for  the  University,  she  moved  to 
Chapel  Hill  in  order  to  have  him  with  her.  Dr.  Cald- 
well had  married  Susan  Rowan,  who,  with  her  infant 
daughter,  died  soon  leaving  him  a  widower  and  childless. 
Before  many  years  elapsed  the  fascinating  young  widow 


The  Caldwell  Monuments  105 

l)ecame  the  President's  wife,  and  well  she  adorned  her 
station  by  the  g-raciousness  of  her  manners  the  activity 
of  her  benevolence  and  leadership  in  g-ood  works.  Her 
elder  son,  Rev.  Wm.  Hooper,  D.  D.,  became  one  of  the 
ripest  scholars,  the  most  interesting-  and  informing 
speakers  and  most  learned  divines  in  the  South.  After 
the  President's  death  she  moved  back  to  Hillsboro,  where 
were  many  relations,  and  was  on  a  visit  to  Chapel  Hill 
when  she  died.  The  following  notice,  kindly  copied 
for  me  by  Miss  Alice  C.  Heartt  from  the  Hillsboro  Rec- 
order, of  which  her  father,  Mr.  Demnis  Heath,  was  for 
many  years  editor,  is  a  truthful  estimate. 

"H11.LSBOR0  Recorder." 

Thursday,  November  5th,  1846. 

"Died  at  Chapel  Hill  on  Friday  morning-,  the  30th 
ultimo,  in  the  78th  3'ear  of  her  age,  Mrs.  Helen  Caldwell, 
relict  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Caldwell,  late  President  of 
the  University  of  North  Carolina.  The  deceased  was  a 
woman  of  extraordinary  endowments,  blending-  in  her 
character  the  hig-hest  mental  culture  with  all  the  Christ- 
ian graces,  in  their  liveliest  exercise.  She  has  left  few 
superiors;  and  those  who  enjoyed  her  acquaintance  will 
feel  that,  by  her  removal,  a  space  has  been  left  in  society, 
which  will  not  soon  be  filled.  But  with  what  confidence 
can  her  friends  and  relations  commit  her  to  the  tomb. 
She  was  a  brig-ht  and  shining-  lig-ht  in  the  Church,  and 
it  was  impossible  to  be  in  her  company  without  admiring 
the  Cristian  cheerfulness  which  she  at  all  times  exhib- 
ited. 

"The  funeral  obsequies  were  performed  at  Chapel  Hill 
on  Sunday  last,  the  President  and  Faculty  of  the  Uni- 
versity acting-  as    pall-bearers  on    the  occasion.      The 


106  The  University  Magazine 

sermon  was  delivered  bv  the  Rev.  Dr.  !\Iitchell  from 
Phil.  IV.  3,  and  lier  remains  were  dei)Ositcd  with  those 
of  her  late  husband,  at  the  base  of  the  monument 
erected  to  his  memory  1:>\-  the  Trustees  of  the  Univer- 
sity." 

Thirty  years  afterwards  her  child,  Dr.  William  Hooper, 
after  laliorin^;-  in  many  fields,  was  iivins>-  in  Chapel  Plill, 
where  he  had  spent  most  of  hisl)oyliood  an<l  much  of  his 
manhood.  He  was  attacked  bv  a  fatal  disease  and  as 
he  felt  himself  sinkiny  towards  the  portals  of  death, 
long-ed  to  be  laid  by  tlie  side  of  b.is  mother.  The  Uni- 
versity authorities  readilv  granted  his  request,  and, 
when  on  the  l*)th  of  August,  ls7(),  the  Centennial  anni- 
versary of  the  sig-ning-  by  his  gfrandfather  of  the  instru- 
ment which  declared  the  independence  of  the  American 
people,  the  g^ood  man  breathed  his  last,  he  was  borne 
from  Gerrard  Hall  to  the  resting-  place  which  he  liad 
chosen. 

This  monument  is  of  sandstone  from  one  of  the  quar- 
ries near  the  University  Building-s,  possiblv  that  on  the 
land  bequeathed  to  the  institution  b}-  !\Irs.  IMary  I^liza- 
beth  Mason.  The  stone  soon  beg-an  to  crumble  and 
g-row  ding-y.  Moreover  the  plan  was  to  insert  on  the 
eastern  face  a  marble  slab  with  an  appropriate  inscription 
in  Latin.  When  this  slab  came  from  the  v/orkman  at 
the  North,  the  Latin  was  found  to  be  so  atrociously  bad 
as  to  be  be3'ond  amendment.  The  Professor  of  that  lan- 
g"uag-e,  in  disg-ust,  seized  a  hamm.er  and  broke  the  offend- 
ing- marble  into  frag-inents.     It  was  never  replaced. 

At  the  Commencement  of  1847  amid  the  g-eneral 
enthusiasm  aroused  b}^  the  visit  of  President  Polk  to  the 
scene  of  his  graduation  twenty-nine  years  before,  it  w^as 


THE  OLD  CALDWELL  MONUMENT. 


108  The  University  Magazine 

proposed  to  erect  a  new  inonument  of  marble,  more 
worthy  of  the  President,  so  much  venerated  b}-  the  ohler 
Alumni.  The  motion  was  made  by  Jolin  Y.  Mason,  of 
the  class  of  18U),  then  Secretary  of  the  Nav}-.  Presi- 
dent Polk  headed  the  subscription  and  others  of  the  emi- 
nent Alumni  present  followed,  it  beini^  ajj-reed  that  no 
one  should  contribute  more  than  three  dollars.  It  was 
not  until  the  Commencement  of  1858  that  the  monument 
was  ready  to  be  dedicated.  It  was  prei)ared  under  the 
supervision  of  a  Committee,  President  Swain,  Mr.  Wm. 
J.  Bing-ham  and  Judge  William  H.  Battle. 

It  is  an  obelisk  of  white  marble  over  twent^y  feet  higdi, 
standing-  in  front  of  the  South  Building-,  not  far  from 
the  Davie  Poplar.  A  tablet  toward  the  top  bears  as 
emblem  of  Dr.  Caldwell's  services  to  the  State,  a  Rail 
Road  wheel,  an  Eng-ineer's  Transit,  and  the  Holy  Bible. 
The  inscriptions  are  as  follows: 

On  the  North  face; 

"In  g-rateful  acknowledgment 

Of  their  oblig-ation  to 

The  First  President  of  this  Universit}-, 

Joseph  CakUvell,  D.  D. 

The  President  of  the  United  States, 

The  Governor  of  North  Carolina, 

And  other  Alumni 

Have  raised  this  mxOnument 

A.  D.  1847.'' 

On  the  West  face; 

"Born  at  Laming-ton,  New^  Jersej', 

April  21st  1773. 

Professor  of  Mathematics  in  this 

University,  1796. 

Died  at  Chapel  Hill 

January  27,  1835." 


The  Caldwell  Monuments  109 

On  the  South  face; 

"He  was  an  early 

Conspicuous  and  devoted  advocate 

Of  the  cause  of  Common  Schools  and 

Internal  improvements  in  North  Carolina." 

On  the  East  face; 

"Near  him  repose  the  remains  of 
His  beloved  wife, 
Helen  Caldwell." 

The  monument  is  the  work  of  Struthers  and  Company 
of  Philadelphia.  It  was  transported  by  water  to  Vv^'il- 
ming-ton,  and  then,  by  the  liberality  of  the  Wilming-ton 
and  Weldon  and  North  Carolina  Railroad  Companies, 
broug-ht  without  charg-e  to  Durham.  Mr.  Paul  C.  Cam- 
eron with  like  g-enerosity  caused  it  to  be  hauled  with 
his  own  team  over  the  roug-h  road  to  Chapel  Hill,  the 
bridg-e  over  New  Hope  being-  specially  streng-thened  to 
bear  the  unusual  weig-ht. 

The  dedicatory  services  were  on  the  day  preceding- 
Commencement  day,  1858.  The  Alumni  marched  from 
Smith  Hall,  while  the  band  played  a  funeral  dirg-e,  to 
the  site  of  the  monument,  and  standing-  around  it  with 
uncovered  heads,  sang-  tke  g-rand  Doxolog-y,  "Praise  God 
from  whom  all  blessing-s  flow."  Then  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Phillips,  the  only  survivor  of  Dr.  Caldwell's  colleagues, 
offered  a  prayer  with  that  extraordinary  propriety  of 
lang-uag-e  and  solemnity  of  utterance  for  which  he  was 
distinguished.  The  procession  was  ag-ain  formed  and, 
marching-  to  Gerrard  Hall,  the  Alumni,  students  and 
visitors,  listened  to  an  ex.:ellent  address,  commemorative 
of  the  deceased  President,  b}'  one  of  his  pupils  and 
greatest  admirers,  President  of  the  Alumni  Association, 


no  The  University  Magazine 

the  late  Paul  C.  Cameron.     I   g-ive   a  few  words  of  his 
eiilog-}'  delivered  in  188'>  at  the  Charter  Centennial. 

"These  woods  must  ever  call  up  the  memory,  form 
and  characteristics  of  Joseph  Caldwell,  and  will,  as  long- 
as  these  walls  by  which  we  are  surrounded  shall  stand, 
or  this  pleasant  village  is  known  as  a  seat  of  learning; 
and  so  long  as  the  name  of  the  University  is  on  the  map; 
it  will  be  associated  with  that  of  the  first  President. 
To  leave  it  out  would  be  as  if  the  topog-rapher  should 
present  us  with  Switzerland  without  its  profile  of  mount- 
ains, or  old  Eg'3'pt  without  its  overflowing  and  fertiliz- 
ing Nile,  or  our  vast  North  American  Continent  without 
the  great  Father  of  Waters,  in  his  grand  sweep  from  the 
lakes  of  the  North  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  good 
man  needs  no  euology  at  my  hands,  and  no  praise  of 
mine  can  add  a  cubit  to  his  stature.  His  early  struggles 
in  its  behalf  must  stand  alone  in  the  building  up  of  this 
institution.  He  came  like  Paul  to  plant,  and  then  like 
Apollos  to  water  with  his  tears,  prayers,  benedictions 
and  benefactions  to  the  end  of  his  days — a  continuous 
effort  of  thirty-one  years.'' 

"It  is  a  pleasant  memory  to  the  surviving  Alumni  to 
renri  the  stendv  devotion  of  good  President  Caldwell  to 
this  institution  and  his  complete  identification  of  him- 
self with  the  citizens  of  the  State  in  every  interest.  He 
made  himself  a  freeholder  and  a  slave-holder,  and  today 
the  chief  servant*  of  the  institution  is  of  his  famih^  of 
slaves.  And  so  long  as  the  great  trunk  line  railroad 
from  Morehead  Cit}-  shall  increase  the  wealth  and  com- 
merce of  the  State  the  name  of  Caldwell  will  be  remem- 
bered as  its  first  projector  in  the  letters  of  'Carlton.'  " 

Kemp  P.  Battle,  '49. 

*  The  late  Wilson  Caldwell. 


